Butch Camp

I watched this film before I checked the rating here on iMDb. For that small bit of luck I am most happy.... The existing rating of 4.7 (when I checked) grossly underrates the enjoyment I got watching this film. It is a terribly cute comedy with good acting and a funny story line. It may not be the most believable story line, I will grant you, but for entertainment it certainly is just fine. As far as "gay themed" movies, I certainly rank it among the most watchable comedies that I have managed to view.

Despite the fact that this film was inexplicably trying to tell about five stories at once, it still had about 10-15 hysterically funny moments. It could have been so much better if the stories had connected, but because whoever wrote this had an agenda or joke to make or stereotype to capture, it just went boomeranging inside a crazy box.

Judy Tenuta, who played the Butch Camp leader (and the Butch Camp was only one of the story lines in this crazy quilt of insanity), was initially funny, but ultimately, she was a one-note joke and she never got beyond screaming and yelling. I never got a sense of character. Paul Denniston, who is frequently compared to Michael J. Fox in reviews, was, on the other hand, consistently funny and although he wasn't given a deep character to portray, his comic timing, his commitment to what the character was and his great personal appeal made me an instant fan.

Again, some gut-busting lines and I might watch it again if I were in the mood to laugh, but unfortunately the disparate story lines, which the screenwriter tried (unsuccessfully) to weave together, were so distracting and unsatisfactory that the movie just doesn't cut it.

For a one-time viewing, it works... but only if you're gay and/or are familiar with enough 90s trivia to recognize the too frequent attempts to be "contemporary."

Having been a big fan of the Giver-Goddess (Judy) for over a decade, I rented this flick the other day. True, the acting and the direction of the actors could've been a lot better. The film is loaded, purposefully, with innuendo, cliché and stereotype humor. I knew that when it all started! The characters are likeable and the writing is ripe with gay sarcasm and campiness. What I loved most of all is my being pleasantly surprised that this is actually, in the end, an adorable romantic comedy! Well worth viewing. A thoroughly enjoyable film. Some queens just want everything to be all wrapped up in one perfect movie: Get real.

If you choose to watch a movie called "Butch Camp" about a lesbian (pictured on the poster or DVD cover wearing leather and brandishing a whip) who runs a training course meant to toughen up wimpy gays, it might be a tad ingenuous to complain about it leaning heavily on stereotypes, as at least one reviewer did. It's a bit like watching a Marx Brothers movie entitled "A Day at the Races" and complaining that Dr. Hackenbush wasn't really a qualified physician… what did you expect? I hasten to add that I'm not implying this movie is on a par with a Marx Brothers production.

Assuming you're in the mood for a farce that employs slapstick, ridiculous characters, improbable situations and, yes, exaggerated stereotypes, this was reasonably well done. Paul Denniston, who played the lead, may have slightly overdone the clueless nature & reactions of his character, and somewhat disturbingly wore the same clothes 24/7, but he and the other central actors were likable and their performances were actually quite good given the context in which they were working.

It's a bit hard to give the movie a rating. The premise and the story development are both absurd, but the actors manage to save it from being a disaster. It's not rolling-on-the-floor funny, but it is amusing. If you enjoy this sort of thing, it's definitely watchable, but not exactly memorable.

I rented this movie from one of my local video stores and hunkered down to watch. I wanted to love it. I really, really did, but...

While I love Judy Tenuta and always will, but her performance was rather weak, and her scenes at the Butch Camp were horribly directed and boring. In fact, it didn't seem like much of a camp at all. Perhaps "camp" in the title was supposed to mean that this film was supposed to be campy (which it wasn't).

But overall, the acting was probably the best thing about this meager attempt to be funny (which it rarely was). I guess it probably broke ground as a gay film when it was originally released, but the plot was incredibly flimsy and rambled a bit. I didn't care about most of the characters. There seemed to be many good ideas, but none of the plot lines offered much of a payoff in the end.